Shoot-out at Maruthamunai market

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]One Sri Lankan Policeman was wounded and a suspected member of the Liberation Tigers killed, when a group of policemen from Neelavanai had gone to the Maruthamunai market and opened fire at 2 Tamil youths around 9.45 a.m. today, said sources. The Police, according to sources, were acting on a tip-off that some Tigers were among the shoppers.

The Police handed over to the nearby Kalmunai hospital the body of another youth who was also killed in the firing, claiming that he was a member of the Liberation Tigers.

It transpired later in the day that the body was that of a Muslim student of the Maruthamunai Al- Manar Central College, who had been displaced from Polannaruwa.

Maruthamunai is a Muslim town, about 36 kilometers south of Batticaloa, sandwiched between the Tamil villages of Paandiruppu and Neelavanai.

The Police shot at two Tamil youths who were standing inside the market. One of them, according to the Police, had pulled out a pistol and shot back. Shoppers ran helter skelter during the shoot-out, said sources. Maruthamunai remained tense following the shoot out.